Citation Guide - APA: American Psychological Association Style Guide

Examples below are based on the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed., located at BF76.7 P83 2001 Info. Commons Ref.
(Earlier editions may be available in the Main Stacks for checkout under the same call number.)

Note the specific punctuation, indentation, italicizing and abbreviation.
It is necessary to alphabetize a list of citations by author.
Please note that in APA, all lines after the first are indented 5 spaces or 1/2 inch.

EXAMPLES

Book with one author

APA

Author's last name, First and Second Initial. (Year). Title italic. Publication location:

Publishing company.

example:

Townsend, R. M. (1993). The medieval village economy. Princeton: Princeton University

Press.

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Book with an editor

APA

Editor's last name, First and Second Initial. (Ed.). (Year). Title italic. Publication

location: Publishing company.

example:

Mcrae, M. W. (Ed.). (1993). The literature of science: Perspectives on popular

science writing. Athens: University of Georgia Press.

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Journal article - one author

APA

Author's last name, First and Second Initial. (Year). Article title. Journal title, volume

number(issue number), page numbers.

example:

Yeh, M. (1996). The "cult of poetry" in contemporary China. Journal of Asian Studies,

55(2), 51-80.

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Journal article - 3 authors

APA

Author's last name, First and Second Initial., Author’s last name, First and Second Initial.,

& Author’s last name, First and Second Initial. (Year). Article title. Journal title, volume number(issue number), page numbers.

example:

White, S., Winzelberg, A., & Norlin, J. (1992). Laughter and stress. Humor, 5(3),

343-55.

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Newspaper article

APA

Author's last name, First and Second Initial. (Year, Month Date). Article title.

Newspaper title, volume and/or issue number (if applicable), pp. page numbers.

example:

Taylor, P. (1993, December 27). Keyboard grief: Coping with computer-caused injuries.

Globe and Mail, pp. A1, A4.

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Online article

APA

Use this format if article is an exact replica of the print article. (pdf)

Author's last name, First and Second Initial. (Year). Article title [Electronic version].

Journal title, volume(issue number), page numbers.

example:

Borsari, B., & Carey, K. B. (2000). Effects of a brief motivational intervention with

college student drinkers [Electronic version]. Journal of Consulting and
Clinical Psychology, 68(4), 728-733.

Use this format when format differs from print or page numbers are missing. (Non-pdf).

Author's last name, First and Second Initial. (Year). Article title [Electronic version].

Journal title, volume, page numbers. Date of retrieval, URL.

example:

Davis, C., & Strachan, S. (2001). Elite female athletes with eating disorders: A study

of psychopathological characteristics [Electronic version]. Journal of Sport &
Exercise Psychology, 23(3), 245. Retrieved March 3, 2002 from
http://search.ebscohost.com.

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Lecture

APA

Lector's last name, First and Second Initial. (Year, Month). Lecture title. In

Symposium Coordinator's First and Second Initial and Last name (Coordinator's
position) (if applicable), Symposium title. Symposium conducted at the
meeting of Sponsoring Organization name, Location.

example:

Atwood, M. (1993, December). Silencing the scream. Boundaries of the Imagination

Forum. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the MLA Convention, Toronto, Canada.

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Interview

APA

According to the APA Publication Manual, because a personal, unpublished interview consists of unrecoverable data, there is no need to cite it in the reference list. Cite personal communications in text only.

example:

K.W. Schaie (personal communication, April 18, 1993)

Note that published interviews are cited accordingly if they appear as journal articles, newspaper articles, television programs, radio programs, or film productions.

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Web site

APA

To cite an entire web site, it is only necessary to cite the URL in the text. It is not necessary to cite a web site in the reference list.

example:

The University of Chicago Portuguese Language Page is an excellent resource for

students (http://humanities.uchicago.edu/romance/port).

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E-mail

APA

Electronic mail is considered a form of personal communication, therefore it is not necessary to cite e-mail in the reference list. Cite e-mail in the text only.

example:

T. Danford (personal communication, March 28, 1997).

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More Information & Examples

APA

Research and Documentation online: Social Sciences (Diana Hacker) - click on the headings on the left side to see examples for in-text citations and lists of references, along with guidelines for formatting a paper and a sample paper in APA style. Includes examples for many other types of material besides those shown above.

APA Citation Guide (Ohio State University) - Includes examples for both reference lists and in-text citations.

Citation Styles Handbook: APA (Writers' Workshop, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) - another good source of examples.

From the APA web site:

APA Style Electronic References
APA Style FAQs
APA Style Tips

American Psychological Association (APA) Style - examples from The New Guide to Writing Research Papers.

APA examples - University of Minnesota Style sheet.

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